Gramax + Paura (IT)

- form a creative duo, born in 2015.

Gramax and Paura form a creative duo, born in 2015. They both felt the need to have a project discussion about the relationship space/human and on the value of the architectural sign. Gramax’s work attracted Paura. His illustrations portray subjects immersed into an architectural environment in which the human, both creature and creator, endures the creation and questions him/herself about his/her own condition and personal potential. Paura has caught in Gramax’s production an implicit reflection on the responsibility of the architect as a creator, as well as an expression form functional to architectural narration. This form of expression evokes sensations and ambiances that escape a regular measurement and the drawing the space.

The consciousness that the city is the stage for life and for relationships is the factor that led the duo towards the contamination between architecture and arts. The two artists are looking for a particular quality of urban space and of landscape that goes beyond their mere function. It should be capable to express meanings and intertwine dialogues with properly human languages. This research has merged into the dissertation “Rimini, immagini di città”, presented by Paura in 2016 for her degree in architecture.

Their different experiences and formation paths entailed Gramax+Paura’s confrontation on the theme of creative act. This creation is an action swinging between idea and shape, between project and construction, between sign and matter. Both the human and the artistic meeting point have happened for both artists in a moment of compulsory existential revision. This encounter made the artists realize the consciousness that the first project concerns the Being, the Self that inhabits us. That was the starting point for the exploration of the Other within us and from us, the unknown evident yet hidden in the symbol.

“I/the Other” is a cumulative project that includes several works and proposes to look at the Foreigner, at the social masks, to the inner demons, to the species. “I/the Other” is an invitation to get closer to the Other, inviting to knowledge, to the development of the human potential, to respect. The main work is a series of portraits on tissue and other materials, made modifying the technique of batik. This work is displayed on a series of narration episodes. Audio-video projection, digital collage, sculpture, photography, and object convers each time in transmedia installations, as an expressive style of the project and of the authors themselves.

Curiosity and experimentation are implicit within the very nature of the project. Curiosity and experimentation led the duo to explore design within its own limits, from the object to the digital project, from the unique piece to serial production, from the product of art to the consumer good. Some already existing projects are part of this line of thought: “Etere Collezioni”, a brand for clothing and accessories; and “Grow”, furniture modular system.